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HEATSOAKED is a Florida-based car culture podcast hosted by Cris and KT - two 30-something year old car nuts who live the stories they talk about. What started as two friends having late-night conversation about dream builds, blown budgets, and heat soaked engines turned into a platform for the culture that raised them.
This isn't about perfect cars or polished influencer content. It's about the grind behind the build. Cris and KT bring real conversations about the 90s and 2000s era tuner scene, passion-built machines, and the culture that keeps them alive. Every episode dives into the journey of a typical gearhead; including the victories, mistakes, lessons learned, and the passion that keeps the culture moving.
HEATSOAKED - because nobody remembers the cool nights.
Cris (00:02)
Woo! What's up guys? Welcome back to Heat Soak episode 9. My name is Cris. This is KT. I wanna shout out to everybody who's liked, subscribe. Thank you guys for the love. We got a special one for you guys today. We're gonna have some fun. KT, what's up man?
KT (00:21)
Yeah, so today we're gonna be talking about your first project car and our first
Cris (00:27)
yeah, we're gonna we're gonna share some stories, share some love, share some mistakes. Well, as KT likes to call it lessons learned, and I agree with him, because we all have lessons we learn in some bad and fast decisions. but yeah, let's let's get into it man. ⁓ we so everyone dreams, right? We all ⁓ some of us, you know, want expensive watches, some of us want, you know, the flights, some of us want nice cars.
You know, ⁓ growing up that's exactly what a lot of us wanted, and I'm sure I share that sentiment with some of you guys out there loving that. So I would tell you that for me it's something special to own a car that says it's just for a project, just something that I can build. It's a it's a blank sheet of paper that I can ⁓ adapt or mold or do whatever I want to do and make whatever color. I think it's special. I think it's something that means a lot. but let's get into it. We broke, son.
so we gotta make we gotta make sure we have enough exactly of where we're going to make it familiar. So let's get right into a first step. You're looking for a car. You gotta figure out what's going on. But let's look at what's gonna really hold you back from everything. Let's look at money. All right, let's look at that budget. KT, what do you think about that, man? I think budget is a huge topic when it comes to that.
KT (01:39)
Money.
yeah.
It's a really big first step that drives a lot of things. Yeah. 'Cause ultimately if you don't have the money for what you want, you can't do what you want.
Cris (01:54)
Right.
Yeah, that's I mean that's pretty much it. You can't pay your bills. I don't expect to see you in a Corvette, you know.
KT (01:59)
And
we know that as car guys and car girls, you know, we have lives to live. We need roofs over our heads, things like that. We need food on the table. But cars, you know, I I think that comes third. A lot of people say that will come first. You know, we're we're responsible adults in our thirties, so there's a difference in our life. But it relates to the stage of your life that you're in, right?
Cris (02:18)
Point.
Yeah,
yeah, really.
KT (02:24)
We
think back when we're like teenagers or sixteen, seventeen years old. We first got our driver's license, we st first started driving. We're still living with mom and dad. You know, they they're probably buying our food for us. Maybe you get a part time job and you're making a couple of hundred bucks, you know, a month. But at that point, you know, a couple of hundred bucks a month, you save up a couple of months, you could probably get yourself a nice little car.
Cris (02:45)
Yeah, yeah. I mean this ⁓ these days, you know, with gas as expensive it is, you know, ⁓ a lot of guys are you know, a lot of those trucks right now are losing value because it's expensive to maintain, expensive to keep, if they're just sitting there on the side of the road here, you know. That's it's one of those things where as a kid now thinking back, man, how many d different decisions we could have made if we had the cash, if we had saved a couple more hundred, if we could, you know, live out that and it's also a memory like, Hey
It depends on where you're at in your stage of life, right? Budget's not just about how much money you have. You like like in the wise words of you know ⁓ biggie smalls. Yeah, yeah. That's where that's where I was going. ⁓ my god, dude, you gotta kick me in the face.
KT (03:31)
That's
fine, you're not from New York.
Cris (03:33)
you know what, I'm not, but I should've remembered that 'cause Biggie is the greatest man. Mo money, more problems, all right. So sometimes you could have a lot you could be making a great amount of money. But if you're eating out every day, your your lifestyle, you got a lot a lot of expensive bills, a high mortgage or even higher rent, you got a girlfriend you're trying to impress and you're buying her stuff every day, you might not have you might be negative in that bank more than you think.
You know, it could be someone in high school, working a part time job, really like really focusing on that first car or saving up to get some independence. You know, I know that's something that I did. And you know, you're just not making that much right now. That all comes. It's all about what your purpose is and what you're actually focusing on with this budget. So it really comes back to your stage in life. Where you at? You're you're not the millionaire, you know, single single millionaire in an apartment, you know, you're you
You know, you could be on either end of the spectrum. So I guess our my main focus is, hey, depending on what stage in life you are, whether you have time. I think I was telling you about the w another another philosophy, right, that we were talking about is, hey, when we're young, we have t plenty of time, no money, and what I say, plenty of energy. Yep. Right. And when you're in our our age you have money, you have no time to do anything else and you have you know still have still have the energy and then when you get older, right?
KT (04:52)
The energy.
Cris (04:55)
You have no energy, you have all the money, and you got no time. There's always something that you're gonna miss out on. So something you always gotta focus and getting all three at once is gonna be a challenge. But it's also comes back to that budget piece. Hey, what are we really focusing on with this? Where are you coming from? It's okay to come from twelve hundred bucks and start a project. It's gonna it's gonna be fantastic because it's love bug season in Florida, guys. If you don't know what those are.
You'll see flying around our camera the whole time. It's don't worry about it. It's literally a thing. But we are the Australia of the United States and it is here. ⁓ so let's talk about income, right? And what another thing about budget is so how much you're making doesn't necessarily portray how much money you can put towards it. Don't forget we all got bills in life. Right? I mean, we experienced it, right? We we got we got a couple things. But also how much space do you have? How much knowledge do you have?
A lot of these things are really gonna start focusing on that budget piece. Like, all right. ⁓ if you invest a lot, you might not have to have all that knowledge. If you invest a little, you might have to learn through research, right? And I think for for that last piece you
KT (06:05)
It it ties into your lifestyle and it also ties into the purpose of the car. Absolutely. So when we talk about budget, we're talking about just money. That's the the most easiest way to think about it. But all those factors that Cris just described, it really drives
your budget. It drives how much money you want to spend on a car, how much money you can spend on a car. Absolutely. But when you start factoring in lifestyle, right? So if you're the type of person who likes to live in a really nice place, well, you probably are gonna end up spending a little more money on where you live. So that's a little less money on your car. Or maybe less money on eating out. So when you decide, you know, what type of lifestyle do I want to live, what type of lifestyle do you want to live, it helps you also determine, all right, the money that I make
is gonna go towards some of those lifestyle things. Yeah. And ultimately how do I allocate enough to get into the hobby of cars? Correct. And then we talk about purpose. So, you know, are you just driving this around as a daily driver every day to work? Are you making this a track?
Cris (06:56)
Correct.
Yeah.
Trying to show off a little bit, you know, you said track ready. Yeah, we all know tracks are not cheap.
KT (07:08)
Drift car
yeah, it depends on what you want to do with the car because the purpose of the car really does drive the budget too. It's very expensive to build a a full on caged race car. But then you think about it, how often are you actually gonna go to the track? There are people who wanna build track focused, track ready cars, cages, bucket seats.
Cris (07:33)
Full. ⁓
KT (07:34)
Three thousand dollar suspension system and they only go to the track once a year.
Cris (07:38)
talking
10 grand before they touch the motor. Like from I'm and I'm being nice. That's a use 10 grand, use seats, used suspension. Like this is not new stuff. If you invest 10 grand, sometimes with the safety ness you need for the track, you gotta pass spec. You gotta pass all that tech stuff. So that's gonna be maintenance is super important. No no leaks on the track. You know that's a big thing and to maintain the tracks around here. I think KT comes with a really good point. Like what's the purpose, right?
Like here's how I always said it and we talked about this and this is a pretty good one. What kind of tuna are you eating? You eating the canned one or you eating fresh? Like you eating sashimi over there. You know, it's it's all about where you come from with that. But a lot of guys, a lot of car guys I know will sacrifice and make sure, hey, they're cooking that meals at home. They're, you know, making sure they're sticking to that budget so that way they can put that percentage towards that project and make sure to make it happen. That's that reality of real life that you guys won't really see when you're looking at
some YouTubers that are throwing, you know, tens of thousands and millions at cars overnight. You know, it it'd be absolutely great if we all could do that. In reality, some of us have to make sure we earn that nine to five. We earn that money daily and allocate that that ⁓ you know money towards small parts in now and then then we just we just have to make it happen. It's part of part of life.
Yeah, well definitely not. You don't have to be responsible. Don't listen to us. But like it's not our fault if you don't listen, you know? Like I've been irresponsible and I've been responsible. So it doesn't matter either way. We know it. So let's talk let's talk about the next part of it, man. We talked a lot about budget. We talked about that stage in life, that income space, talk about that lifestyle, the purpose. What are you actually doing? Like what is this why is this important to you? You want a project car, sure, but why is a big question. But the next question after budget is, all right, you want one? Yes or no?
Yes. Right? Alright, I got some money put away. Okay, cool. How much money you got? Which way which direction are we going in this next step? Are we going built? Are we going bought? And let's talk a little bit about that right now. That's a that's a huge thing that in the car culture where we fight against.
KT (09:47)
Right. We are both proponents of building cars only because we both love to wrench on things and we love to express ourselves just through our cars. But you probably don't like to say it, but I'm okay with people buy, you know, their own fully built cars, right?
Cris (10:05)
Listen, I'll be that guy. All right. Listen. It makes me it it actually funny enough, you know, w yo when I was younger at car shows, all the wrenching you did and then a guy would show up and be like, smoke you just because you could spend more on your car. Yeah, it's a little frustrating after, you know, people see the effort. 'Cause people don't see all the hours you spent underneath a car. You know, all the maintenance you did, pulling an engine, re putting it back in just to, you know, show up at that night and then some guy, you know, some rich kid shows up at a
you know, with a viper and you're fresh in high school. You're like, what is you know, what is life right now? Is that even fair? Like is that should be illegal, you know? But it's it's as I've gotten older, you know, everyone comes from different places and I've learned to appreciate that there's good things and bad things on both sides of it that we've really learned and really focused on. And it's interesting, right? It's ⁓ something you gotta come to peace with. But I again I'm a proponent for building cars. At the end of the day, this could look like shit right now.
Give me some time.
KT (11:06)
Yeah, the memories that you worked on it.
Cris (11:07)
Yeah,
absolutely. The the way you guys see it now is not gonna be what it's finished at. The body man. Like I I'm I d do not have beautiful, beautiful hands. Mine are, you know, calloused, you know, wrenching buttons, you know, bleeding cut, oil everywhere. You know it's it's what it is. It's exactly right. But it's also what's led to us into that community that we talk about, those friendships, those things, the conversations. It's happening.
KT (11:11)
Busted knuckles, the scars all over.
But
Relatable
aspects of what you did on this car, this other guy down the road did on his car, even though you both two different people, two different cars, but you both, you know, changed the timing belt.
Cris (11:46)
Yeah, exactly, right? ⁓ well and it goes it goes to effort, right? And I think a lot of people miss the mis have a misconception is you can have effort placed in two different directions. You can place it towards self effort where you do it yourself, right? You do it you do your own work, or you have effort placed into a ⁓ you know, a item, right? And that's something that I feel like once you pour your s blood, sweat, and tears into something, you you ha it becomes like a soul. It has its own life. You know what I mean? You see the beginning, you don't see the birth, whatever like that, but
If you're just paying for an item, it doesn't have all that. It's just all right, that's just a car.
KT (12:20)
But if we talk about it from a practicality aspect, if you know what you want out of a car, if you want that daily driver but that's fast, that's nice, that's comfortable, you know, sometimes building that is not the best route to go. That's that's right. If it's just easy enough to go buy that outie
Cris (12:35)
Right man.
Yeah.
Yeah. You you're what I'm saying, right. Like and and it like you know, it's based on, you know, what you have in life at the moment, right?
Like, all right, if we're if we're building, do you have the skills? If you don't, you can learn, but you guess what? Once again, back to this word effort, you're gonna put effort in it. Do you have the patience? Once again, back to the word effort, 'cause now you have to like self reflect on what you're actually doing and yeah, that take that takes a a lot of effort, and your lifestyle.
You know, you ha it takes effort for that to make sure you're focusing on your bills. It takes effort to make sure you're focusing on like actual life itself, but not letting it pass you by. Are you okay with eating a couple of tuna sandwiches, you know, ⁓ for lunch during the week, you know, to make sure you save enough to put way for that next part, that next part, that next part. And it's patience. You know, it it it all just r leads through that. All those things, that budget, those skills, patience, that lifestyle, all those things are super important. And of course there's
KT (13:39)
So
Cris (13:39)
Tons
of videos out there right now about buying your first project car. Do you have what it you know I'm not gonna get that much embellished. This is real life. Like we've had project cars and we've made I've made tons of mistakes, so is KT, but ⁓ getting to that built-not bot section, I think you had a good real real point. Sometimes you're you know you want a project car, but you want that comfort. You know, I'm telling you bucket seats, they're not made for comfort.
Some are, don't get me wrong, but you're spending high dollar for that. But I've been in some full metal bucket seats, what it feels like at least. And they're not comfortable. And guess what? I drove that car every day for like three years and it was rough. But ⁓ sometimes buying from factory, you know, buying from the dealer and going up and finding that classy luxury option, having that working AC, you know, don't have to rip it out of the vehicle to get a couple horse, you know, horse purps, you know, and go from that.
⁓ but ⁓ if you're going build, right, you got to really start going into focus. If you're going into bot, you're really going into something a little bit different of a world. And I, out of personal experience, don't have that. You know, I I haven't really bought too many things that are just the same. You know, maybe for you know, a car for someone else that I've helped purchase and things like that, 'cause they had a different purpose out of it. But for for build, man, what do you gotta do to really get into it?
KT (15:05)
Yeah, if you're building your own car, you know, you you gotta really understand what you're doing and if you don't, well there's a ton of resources available and you have to at least be willing to understand. You have to be willing to put in the time, p put in the effort and ultimately put in the money on top of the money you already spent buying the car.
Cris (15:22)
Wait, there's more money to build a car? ⁓ wait.
KT (15:25)
⁓
if you didn't know already, cars are ⁓ I can pick money pits that you know, you might as well just light money on fire. Yeah.
Cris (15:30)
Pain. ⁓
Yeah, just just buy an old Toyota.
KT (15:38)
I mean, but for real though, like this it's a hobby. Like any other hobby, you're doing it for the pure enjoyment of that hobby. Right. So for us, you know, we really enjoy cars, the art of cars, the mechanical aspect of cars, the engineering of cars, the driving experience of cars, all of that. We covered that on our very first podcast. ⁓ but if you go into the the bought route, there's nothing to say that you couldn't modify your purchase car either. There are people that do that.
Cris (15:56)
Absolutely.
Like autodone has some nice rim covers for those steelies. For those nice those those ⁓ those Nissan on ultimates, man. I mean, they have they have plenty of stuff. I mean, and that's what brings it back to what we talked about in the first time. Personal personalization of cars is is effort everywhere. Some people don't care about that. You know, the car culture is a car culture because, you know, we have these wants, we have these needs, we pour ourselves into these vehicles, but that's because we wanna do it. It's something that we care about and we enjoy.
You know, some people have had I've s this I've seen the same car for twenty years and they're like, I'll just buy a new engine, I'll buy a new transmission, I'll buy a new drivetrain. I don't care. That car's gonna run forever. I don't hate on it. Listen, if you appreciate that car and that car's has a lot of ⁓ memories and it's got a lot of value to you, even if it's not resale value, that's a value that, you know, you might have built a family in that car, or you might have, you know, s lived a life, you know, driving around through it.
KT (16:47)
Yeah.
Cris (17:05)
People have that sentiment, you know, the sentimental value is the the right way to put it, to really choose that. And when the car culture, I think that's where a lot of it comes from, to be honest with you. Like it's all after all that effort, after everything, that's that pride and that's why we get kind of offended when we see those people pull up, right? When that those bots. At the end of the day, it's leading back to that built section, that bought section, depending on what that budget is, depending on where we're going
KT (17:32)
Your practicality.
Cris (17:35)
What do you
need? Do you actually need a car? If you don't, like let's let's start checking boxes and checking everything like that, right? So do you want a car? All right, we already checked the box. Yes, we want a project car. What's your budget look like? All right, are we doing fantastic? Are we doing okay? Are we like, hey, maybe we should not think of a project car and pay our rent? You know, there's little diff there's different things that we're gonna get into. And funny enough, man, I've seen all three, you know, let's check the box, staying round the middle. All right, cool. You gotta you got a little bit of money put away. All right.
Cool, you're gonna buy something that's freshly just stock, it's got like maybe ninety, a hundred thousand miles on it, ⁓ nothing's done to it, or you're gonna buy like someone's already Are you gonna find that that diamond in the rough, that n you know, that charger everyone's been looking for, you know, for it's eighty thousand dollars for the rolling shell. You know, that's the option that we're going into. And that thing that's the excitement we wanna bring to this is like there's so many.
KT (18:15)
Rolling shell engine.
Cris (18:33)
Options. There's so many things you can do. But finally, after you've been through that section, back section, you checked all these boxes, this next step is gonna be man, one of our favorite one of our favorite games we used to play driving around in arcades. Choose your butt
KT (18:49)
Right. What you were doing like a
month ago while we were sitting on your couch.
Cris (18:54)
It's yeah. What we did a month ago while we were sitting on my couch, exactly. Literally like scrolling through marketplace now. No, no. ⁓ okay. Alright, let's try that one. Alright. It's messaging of friends, car parts, funny memes about cars. Like it's ⁓ man, it's it's it's
KT (19:14)
It's honestly one of the the best parts about this whole process that we're outlining, right? Nobody likes to talk about
Cris (19:20)
No, it's
the boring part and let me tell you about not reality where we all have a million dollars that can do what we want. But choose your ride, man. Like you were saying, best part.
KT (19:32)
Yeah, the best part of the and it goes back to the steps that we just visited, the budget and the purpose. So you already know your budget, you already know your purpose. Now you just have to identify the cars that fit into both of those categories, right? So it does take a little bit of legwork for you. Absolutely. ⁓ a little bit of internet research, talking to people, all of that stuff. But basically figure out a list of cars that fall within to that bucket.
Now what I think it's really fun and interesting is you you go online and you do your research and you find a couple of these cars that everybody says to get, right? A Miata's like one that everybody says to get no matter your budget. Track car Miata, drift car, Miyada. But the fun part is when you start thinking outside the box
Cris (20:18)
⁓
KT (20:41)
No but
Cris (20:41)
But but
KT (20:42)
finding finding those non-traditional options too, right? So for me personally, when we're talking about like ⁓ little small two seater sports cars and even in a convertible, this example, yeah, people immediately think of Miata, that's like the first one. Yeah. But then S two thousand, right? That's another option. Yeah. A little pricier, but it's there. ⁓ and then the Z three, there's a convertible version of the Z three. Not too many people think about that or maybe they forget about it.
Cris (21:00)
That's
KT (21:10)
Even the convertible three fifty Z, which is horrible, but I I don't know why you would buy one, but people, you know, you should know that's an option.
Cris (21:18)
Bad decision. Don't listen to KT. Bad decision. An option like my like a clown shoes an option. Listen, it's fantastic to be riding in the ⁓ the mountains and all you know, the touge and everything as we talk about it, right? I wouldn't get a convertible safety.
KT (21:21)
Convertible three?
Yeah.
Is
it
Cris (21:45)
It's
all about the options, right? It is all about those certain things that we're
KT (21:49)
If
you've come across a car that you never really thought came to the forefront of your mind. Yeah. But in your process of research, you find something on a Reddit forum that someone's building this one off weird car or just this not so popular car. But it has all the requirements that you need on paper and you're like, Wow, I didn't even think about that. That's a good Let me dived into that a little more.
Cris (22:09)
Like
Yeah, that's a really valid point. I mean it's it's like ⁓ everyone has these different thoughts and I think this is another thing that I really enjoy other than the engineering of cars, how they work, how they operate, how they you know, what they do and how what they do for us. Like a car could be a lifesaver for many, it could be the end of times for others. But ⁓ funny that you get into that because that is one of the main factors of what surprises us every day. Like we look at builds, we look at everything all the time, but here's the fun thing.
Fun fact about cars that everyone talks about but really doesn't get into. I could have this engine, I could have five of them, and I can do different things to every single one of them. It just depends on where where you come from, what your imagination is, and what you want to push out of it. You can do a 1.5 J Z, you know, like that is that is a option. There's a a lot of different things and a lot of different characters that develop cars and have these awesome ideas, and I think that's very
KT (23:08)
comes with and that's a great example too because in our generation the Supra is a sawed after car right the Mark IV Supra and part of the reason is that 2JZ engine but this car you know it does have a 2JZ but now it's not the same exact GTE yeah but there are people who swap that GTE into this car. So if your purpose is to have a 2JZ and you're thinking the only way I can get a 2JZ is a Mark IV Supra, well
Cris (23:18)
Yeah, Fast and Furious, we know.
KT (23:36)
You can actually stuff that thing into an R X seven, an IS three hundred. You can do a lot with that engine so
Cris (23:42)
I
think there's a and we'll hashtag it on the video, 2 Jay Z the world, man. It's like there's they're in Mustangs, SN ninety fours, they're in every single car I guarantee you has been swapped. I've been I've seen trucks, I've seen just insane go-karts, I've seen, you know, old school car o resto mods with It all really depends on what we're doing, and that's kinda what we're doing. When you can choose your ride, you can choose whatever you want. You can start with a rolling shelf, start with an actual vehicle. And it's
really comes down to the main question is what is the purpose of that right what is your purpose in this vehicle and that's gonna be the most important thing I mean would you agree with that?
So I mean what are you using the actual car for? You wanted a car, alright? That's step one. We already figured that out. You got some money for a car, it's step two, we got it. You're gonna build it or buy it. It's up to you. We we we no judgment, but I'm judging. ⁓ what are you using it for? You wanna look cool? You wanna drag? Do you wanna drift?
Do you wanna just have a nice streetcar? Do you wanna go to car shows? You wanna get the ladies with it? Sorry that last one doesn't work. We tried. but what do you want to do with the car? Is there a function? Is there something you want out of it? Is there a goal? Is there what is there with purpose that is gonna lead back to this? And what you want is really gonna lead to what? The requirements, those mechanical requirements of a car. So what options do we have here?
KT (25:09)
Yeah. So we touched on the two J Z example, but engine's a big one, right? Engine's the most obvious one. Absolutely. How much power do you want? Is there a particular engine you actually want? Yeah. like how fast you want to go, how much torque do you want? Do you want a V8, a V 6 or a turbo? Exactly. You know, there's so many options, but that just helps you narrow down your selections. Yeah. Right. And then we can get into other things like transmission, automatic transmission.
Manual transmission? Do you want ⁓ upgraded suspension? Yeah. There's so many different aspects of it now. ⁓ there's a lot of different rabbit holes you can go down to. And then if you're going into the built route, you know your options are a little more endless in that case.
Cris (25:54)
If anyone knows that a family tree looks like, right? Two people and then branches off to the kids. They say car parts are gonna do the almost the exact same thing except you're gonna have like five different things that branch off from each car part as you go. So this gets can get complicated quickly if you let it overwhelm you. But like I said, and like you were saying just now and I appreciate that is like what options are you looking at? Don't let yourself get overwhelmed. Focus on your goal and ⁓ find out the steps of how to get there.
I have an Excel file telling me exactly what I need to go ahead and get every part for this vehicle going. I don't like the numbers I'm seeing. It hurts my feelings. KT has the same thing. We always want to make sure we're organized because we have done those things in the past where we weren't. And I forgot a part after swapping a transmission already.
KT (26:40)
It's bound to happen too. Yeah. But it sucks when it happens. Like I'm ready on a Saturday morning, I'm ready to go out there, do my breaks, and forgot to buy pr bake friends. Yeah, exactly.
Cris (26:43)
You forget the clutch.
Or break blew it and you're like, Man, like I no nobody knows that feeling better than car guys is the fact that you are just like you waited all week to do something. You get out there and you're like, I forgot this small detail Or it could be a big detail.
KT (27:09)
I think I think that brake pad example was pretty bad because we're forgot on your brake pads and you're planning on doing a brake job. We get the idea, correct?
Cris (27:12)
That is.
Pretty hilarious.
I'm kinda curious how what else you're forgetting. But yeah, so little mechanical requirements, manual, rear-wheel drive, all wheel drive, front wheel drive. Let's start getting into the craziness. Like you were saying, V6, four cylinder, V eight, V twelve, V ten. Let's start going crazy, you know? ⁓ are you gonna chance it with something newer turbo? Do you want naturally aspirated? Are you good with diesel? All of these
Branching options for engine transmission, drivetrain, differential. ⁓ you could it every step that we go for the type of motorspan, for example, drifting need a certain suspension, ⁓ drag you need a certain suspension. Every single ⁓ motorsport that we have, you can utilize one set for everything if it's adaptable. Of course, we've known some great companies. BC is doing that, TN's doing that.
A lot of really good companies that's really setting up we can have ⁓ been able to adapt into different motorsports or have a not an all I guess a universal style.
KT (28:20)
universal style. And
you can never really have a universal part that does everything but as best as you can because you're not gonna want to swap from your street coilovers to your track coilovers. I mean some guys do that, but I mean do we have the time to do that? Probably not. Yeah.
Cris (28:36)
I don't
tell you that the ones the next ones I get for that are staying in there. But and that's that's where it where it can go when you're choosing your ride. Like what this is why what's important to you and to know your goal with your vehicle is actually the most important thing for you and something that we want to pass down to this next generation or anybody trying to buy a car. It doesn't matter, you know, age, ethnicity, anything. We want to make sure that you have this goal in mind at all times and to understand what's gonna work best for you.
in the area you're going to. And also, what challenges, what expectations you really gonna visit? Like what is gonna be ⁓ your expectation of the car when you finally get it? Like do you think that you're gonna do what you're gonna do with it as soon as you pick it up? If it's just to have something reliable, we call it an A to A to B. Turn the key, it turns on, put it in put it in gear, it goes in gear, drives, you fill it up with gas, you pay your insurance bill, you change it oil, and you're done.
Sometimes we just want that. Get it as simple as that and sometimes you can do that project from there.
KT (29:40)
Does it work with your lifestyle, right? Exactly. If you want a really simple A to B car and you can afford it and you don't care for like the track focused ability or any of that. You just want something that gets you where you need to go and you want something that's efficient too. Maybe you end up getting a hybrid, maybe you get an electric car, right? Like there's there's all those factors that we talked about constantly, but it all goes back to how it affects the way you choose a ride.
Cris (30:05)
Yeah, 100%. And leading to now what? We now we've we've had a goal, you want a project car, we're leading down all of these things to really talk about the mistakes we've made, right? With and the fun things I have. from the very first car I bought, of of course, you know, I bought a ⁓ Tacoma ⁓ stick shift, it was a single cab and it was the first truck, you know, one of the first vehicles I owned and and basically it was an A to B car.
Did it get me to work when I was back in class and trying to get you know, get my independence when I was a kid? Absolutely. Did it cost me more than I thought a car would? Absolutely. I didn't know that a transmission would cost two grand or even ⁓ hurt my feelings. All my summer money going out the window, you know, everything that you've saved up to like, man, you know, I'm gonna put some l put a lift in this thing thinking you're cool and you really just broke. Like But ⁓ you know, it's funny when you start
doing this project car thing and as you go into cars and motorsports you actually find out what you like the most out of it. And something that I enjoy is the lessons I've learned out of it. And I will tell you the patience is a huge one that's come out of this and and really like we talk about the culture very often. ⁓ it's the people in it, man. It's the people that lend that ear. It's the the older guys, you know, old generation always giving us, you know, advice on something small that you they could hear while you're driving by.
They're like, hey, check this out. This might help you out with some little things. Always pay attention to that advice wherever you go. Sometimes it's unsolicited, sometimes they mean they don't mean well. Most car guys will mean the best for you and try to help you out. ⁓ on our multiple project car histories, man, start start me out, KT. What's going on?
KT (31:48)
Yeah, I mean I have a long history of project cars, but for me it started when I was in college. ⁓ I got an NA Niata. It was a ninety two one point six liters one of those I'm a man I was talking about.
Cris (31:58)
⁓
Him.
KT (32:03)
Once you get into Miadas, it's really hard to not ever be out of Miatas. I don't own a Miata today, but I So it's a cult. I still appreciate the
Cris (32:12)
Shane. You're
you're part of the Manson family at this point.
KT (32:16)
Well I so I bought my Miata as a junker. It was six hundred dollars and this was yeah, like fifteen years ago.
Cris (32:23)
Yeah,
it's a long time, long long time ago, back when cars were reasonably priced, was under two dollars.
KT (32:27)
But it it
was running, ⁓ and it it had the potential. I saw it. And this was my first project car too. Fair. So as a college student, you know, I'm in my late teens, early twenties, you know, I so my first real car. And I had done research, a little bit of research up to that point, 'cause one, it was a cheap car. And two, everyone said Miadas are so easy to work on, they're so fun to drive. So it just made sense as someone who didn't really have much money.
Cris (32:54)
Yeah.
KT (32:55)
So I picked up that car. I actually built that car ⁓ for about four years before I sold it. But it was my real first introduction to building cars. And I had a semblance of a plan. You know, I if I if I think about it today, 15 years later, I was like, if I wanted to do a certain thing with that Miata, make it a track Miata, you know, I know exactly how to do that today. But when I was into that project,
For the very first time as a a young adult. Yeah. You know, it's more like, I got I got this slightly running car. I want a little more power. I want it to look a little cooler because it was all faded paint and you know, it's like a hundred horsepower at the wheel. So so the purpose was different back then. but the idea was the same. It just wasn't as refined, right? So I had a goal in mind, I had a budget, I
Cris (33:40)
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
KT (33:48)
found the car that I wanted and I slowly went down that rabbit hole getting parts searching certain parts. But I think ultimately it just takes a lot of experience and repetition in life. And I know you and I are both fortunate to have owned multiple project cars. There are people who've only owned one project car and you know, maybe they bought the car that they loved and they would never want to do away with that car.
Cris (33:52)
Wanted to build it, you didn't want to buy it.
You're right.
Absolutely.
I know plenty of people like that, yeah.
KT (34:14)
But our experiences through those multiple cars throughout our life just teaches us how to better refine the next project that we dive into, right? So from my Miata I ended up turbocharging that car, I gotta repaint it, everything. I didn't do the suspension or anything on that car, which you know, today that was actually probably be the first thing I would do on a car. But the first thing I did on that car was build the engine. Yep. But it was fun. I got to pull the engine, I got to
Research an aftermarket turbo. I I didn't just go on ebay and buy the back on the you the kid over there. I I sourced my individual parts. I got
Cris (34:52)
Forums,
you're on forums doing your studies.
KT (34:55)
Turbo,
I got my injectors, you know. I bought everything piece by piece. Yes. But that was part of the fun. Yeah. For me, that's why I love cars. Like ⁓ building your own car, yeah, doing that research, that hobby, all of that is you know, that's why I enjoy this. So fast forward a little bit, I ended up selling that Miata. I'm eventually into an S two thousand. So a very similar style car, but that car had a different purpose. At that point in my life, I was I was kind of transitioning into to
trying to get into more motorsports type things. So like autocross, track days, things like that. So I never really touched the engine on that car. All I did really was slap an exhaust on it, put on some really sticky tires and just went to down ⁓
Cris (35:39)
It was an S two thousand man. You you can just pump it up and go. And that thing was just that's a beautiful, beautiful car. I don't blame you for that.
KT (35:46)
I
my point ultimately is just between those two cars and then of course my IS today which has a whole different purpose as a as a drift car build, but between those different cars and between those different stages in my life, I've kind of tailored how I wanted to build my cars to fit exactly what I wanted to do and how that car can achieve that goal.
Cris (36:07)
Yeah, that's it. I mean, that's you it's t you hit the nail on the head. It's to the point. It's exactly what's going on and and not even disagreeing with you or like but understanding ⁓ We come from two separate worlds. You know, we we come two different areas, you know, before we met we had no idea about each other at all. So it's just one of those things where that is the factor. We're still doing the same thing, not knowing anything about each other, but
The main thing is like even the difference from my project car when I had my Honda Core V six, right? Trying to figure out what I can do to tune it and hire injectors, you know, adjust the timing, you know, maybe d you know, do some little things here and there, ⁓ put a VTEC controller on it, you know, so it hits at two and I'm just doing this every time I go by. But just just making sure like from there to, you know, ⁓ my buddy ⁓ working on my buddy's sorcerer and almost buying his ⁓ spoon prelude.
You know, and and like putting all the work into that, really like realizing that like I'm, you know, five grand in and I'm like, I don't wanna buy this car. And I'm like, shit. You know, like sometimes it reaches that point and sometimes it it's the mistakes that I've learned through that. But even the best examples for me, and I'll I'll I'll put this back to this. I had a Mitsubishi Lancer that I had turbo, it was just a crappy four, it wasn't the evo
it was a rally rally sport, nothing too crazy. and basically or excuse me, rally art, whatever you want. Rally art ⁓ and just just had done nothing crazy to it. Injectors, turbo, valve cover gasket, didn't even didn't even no ARP bolts, no nothing crazy. I blew up motor and I just got the cart and it was fun 'cause I didn't care. I was like, it blows up, it blows up and I scrapped it. But
KT (37:35)
Yeah.
Cris (37:55)
I was at a time of my life where I had other things going on and and once it blew as much as the the luckily I didn't put too much into it but I knew that the next vehicle I wanted wasn't a front wheel drive. It wasn't an all-wheel drive either. I wanted something rear-wheel drive. And that's when I picked up the E36. I had my budget, I had a purpose, I wanted to build it. And definitely not buying an already built, you know, E36. ⁓ I found a steel, got this car, luckily for like
under a grand, which is unheard of, right? ⁓ had a hole in the floor. I was flintstoning my way. Didn't start when I picked it up. But like you saw the potential, right? Yeah. Every car guy sees the potential. Like we we bullshit about that and we talk about that all the time. But it's funny, right? Because ⁓ we give ourselves the credit of trying to build these machines that are have already been built, just trying to make them better.
⁓ so it's it's re-engineering something and it's actually what I enjoy about the process the most. It's finding out what they were thinking when they built it and then having to upgrade that style or find what you what you consider an upgrade on that style. ⁓ what I learned the best is choosing that E36 was I like to get sideways. I like to spin tire, I like a five-six speed manual, I like
The responsiveness, I like how BMW put together a motor, man. Is it an option in the future for me to get another ⁓ possible M3? Yeah, yeah, buddy. Yeah, we'll we'll definitely be looking at that. But ⁓ leading into what I wanted with this, although I didn't get a manual transmission IS from that transition and getting rid of that car was the worst decision, right? So we talked about that on previous pods. They talked about the mistakes I've made, I invested too much.
into something that I didn't utilize ⁓ enough of, right? And I didn't take the time or have the patience at that moment. I got rid of it. These are little mistakes we're trying to make sure that you guys are aware of that we've learned. And it's good lessons, right? It's lessons learned that we've experienced that you guys don't have to. Now, am I stubborn? Would I listen to us? Probably not.
KT (40:09)
Sometimes you have to make those mistakes to really learn.
Cris (40:12)
But
leading into this, this is a basically so Lexus and Toyota, right? So now I'm not having to buy certain German ⁓ you know tools or specialty tools to work on a car. Everything is can be in one toolbox for this car, ten millimeters galore. You know, I just bought a stack on Amazon. It was just a t a bo box O ten millimeter, I think they called it. But re-wheel drive, strong V6, a legendary strong V six, and I got lucky with I
Excuse me. I apologize. I6. You are absolutely correct. Strong I6, but the say it was an I6 as well on the E36. That M52. Mm-hmm. It's f I'm sorry, F52 is fantastic. and basically, although I didn't get a manual, I know that the swap is just gonna be worth it. I know how to make it strong, so when it gets boosted, when we start drifting, when we start doing some fun stuff, everything's gonna be ready. And ta speaking of manual
We got some news. You check out check out check out the social media guys. You'll see some funny stuff coming up about ⁓ the new manual ⁓ that we're thinking about. Yeah. I'm not not gonna spoil it too much on that, but guys, these are just some lessons learned. You want a project car, figure out these options. These are just casual conversation we decided because we've had people asking us, you know, I want a project car, what do I do? I think you helped your brother out.
KT (41:24)
You're going down that path.
Cris (41:39)
I help my brother out, I help my friends out. You know, all the time they ask us to come look at things and come make sure the cars are mechanically secure. Doing that research, figuring out what you want, that purpose, that budget, that what you actually want out of the project car. If it's just the experience, sure. Find something easy. Don't go Miata. I just that's just my personal preference. KT wants you to go Miata. I get it. Too many on the road. You guys can't drive.
KT (42:06)
There's a reason why they're so together.
Cris (42:07)
my goodness. ⁓ but that's it man. That's that's pretty much all I got for this one. Yeah.
KT (42:15)
You said it best and you know, we're here to help too. So if you guys are checking out this podcast and you're kind of interested in what we're talking about and you just wanna know a little bit more, yeah. Feel free to reach out to us. You have our socials, we don't have to keep hash yeah, we do, we gotta keep hashing it.
Cris (42:34)
Liar. ETuck FL Instagram. Check us out on YouTube, which you're already on. ETuck the FL. Yep. And this is StormSpec IS Yes, thank you for reminding me what I mean on Instagram on. We're a little quiet today, guys. It's real hot out the allergy season here in Florida. but but I hope you guys enjoyed it as always. Let us know what you guys want us to talk about.
KT (42:41)
Cloudy IS three hundred Storm Spector.
We're a little too humble.
Cris (43:01)
Appreciate everybody watching. All of these you guys have a good time. But we're definitely excited for this next part. We're gonna be getting into a little bit more into this two thousand dollar challenge as we head forward and we talked about these last couple of episodes. ⁓ maybe a little more drifting, hopefully. Yeah.
KT (43:14)
And
we're gonna be struggling too because the weather's gonna get hotter and hotter now.
Cris (43:18)
If you guys don't see right now, I am sweating. But that's what's worth it man. ⁓ like I said, we're heat soaked. This is what life is, this is how we do it. Appreciate it guys. I'm Cris, that's KT. Have a good day. Peace. Peace.